Instructor

Burr Stewart  is a strategic planning and sustainability consultant with a passion for using charts and diagrams to facilitate understanding and working together on sustainability and strategy. He has had a 32-year career in the transportation planning profession and worked extensively on sustainability and climate change programs at Sea-Tac International Airport and in the aviation industry. Read more.

Course description

Sustainability is a complex concept with many branches, variations, stakeholders, slogans, books and branding efforts. The drivers of sustainability combine urgent with long-range and individual with collective, thus defying easy verbal description. With some studies showing that up to 60% of the general population are “visual learners,” there is a great need to develop, standardize and use visual methods for describing the whys and wherefores of sustainability. There are many examples of diagrams and exhibits being used to explain and to manage sustainability programs, and teachers, students and practitioners can all benefit from honing their skills in this increasingly important aspect of sustainability management and communications.

This half-day seminar will focus on learning how to use visual representations of key sustainability concepts and data to build stakeholder consensus and collaboration and to lead sustainability programs and change initiatives. Issues of system boundaries, key performance indicators, stakeholders, internal and external drivers and values, time and scope dimensions, and visual design principles will be examined and exercised, using examples from sustainability programs and participant exercises and input. Production methods such as flip charting and common software tools and websites will also be discussed and evaluated. Each participant will leave the seminar with knowledge and insight into effective visual methods to help lead sustainability initiatives.

This seminar will equip you to:

photo from thesis work by Kristian Bjornard

• Understand the role of visual thinking and learning in the context of communicating the frameworks and performance areas of triple bottom line reports and sustainability strategies.
• Understand the drivers, risks and liabilities in using different kinds of information in visual tools – which types of charts work for which sustainability concepts
• Identify boundary and value issues and how best to clarify and map them
• Understand stakeholder roles and how use community mapping for determining which stakeholders to engage
• Effectively show the role of time when making decisions about sustainability programs and projects
• Understand emerging software tools for visualization, and how they can be used to increase stakeholder involvement and participation, in addition to communication
• Determine the quality of a visual exhibit
• See how they can use visual tools to keep abreast of emerging issues in sustainability as the field continues to develop in the years ahead

Topics Covered:

• Basic theory of visual design and visual learning
• Examples and exercises in the areas of:
  • Program management and project prioritization
  • System mapping
  • Time charting and forecasting
  • Value tradeoffs and overlaps
• Current software options and design best practices
• Emerging issues in sustainability and how they can be illustrated visually

CM | 4

AICP members can earn Certification Maintenance (CM) credits for this workshop.  More information about AICP's CM program can be found at www.planning.org/cm.

Venue

Seattle Central Library, fourth floor, meeting room 5
1000 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104

Who should attend:

Anybody with in an interest in promoting sustainability inside their own organization or to an outside audience. Previous visual design training is not required.

What to bring:

Please dress comfortably and bring a pencil and some paper. You won't need a computer, but if you do bring one you'll find free wifi at the venue. We will provide light snacks and drinks.

Sponsorship

Interested in sponsoring this or any other class? Sponsorship opportunities are available. Contact us for more information.

Registration

Class fee $50 for all attendees. Register online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/103566

Contact us with any questions: STARs@sustainableseattle.org and (206) 659-8077, or sign up for email updates. .

Follow our blog.